Hey, everyone! I hope you all had a great winter break. If you are a returning IWCC student, welcome back! If you are a new student starting at Iowa Western, welcome to Reiver Country! I’m happy to announce I’ll be spending another semester blogging about life as a Reiver at IWCC. I look forward to talking with you!

Coming in at a close second (with Christmas), Thanksgiving is another one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it has a lot of food, but that’s not entirely the point. I love spending time with my family. We usually play board games and such while we cook. I purchased Scrabble Slam at Target for us to play, so that should be fun. Recently, we’ve gotten into the idea of deep frying our turkeys instead of oven-baking them. The deep-frying locks in the juices and makes it so juicy. Our oven’s old; it tends to dry out our turkey. 😦

We also have a couple pies for dessert. I wanted to make my favorite, Frozen Fluffy Peanut Butter Pie (it’s more delicious than you imagine with the name), but my mom bought some from Perkins. (Heck, I’ll make the pie for Christmas!) We’ve never traveled for Thanksgiving; too many of our relatives live too far. But my grandma calls on the holidays in addition to her weekly Sunday calls. But too soon, it’ll be Christmas. Where did 2010 go?! ‘Til next time and have a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Well, there’s only 12 days until Halloween. And I’m looking forward to every minute of it. Halloween is my favorite holiday; Christmas runs in a close second. I love everything from the scary props to the awesome costumes. Even ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween. Since Halloween is the one time a year where you can dress up as whatever you want, I always spend a lot of time deciding what I want to be. I always try to be a little unique since I don’t want to be one of five others in the same costume. Last year I was the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. I found different version I liked than the one from the Disney movie.

I think Iowa Western should have a Halloween Party. I know they have one for the children of students and faculty, but I think the students could have one, too. With costume contests, maybe a dance. but that’s my opinion. It could be fun.

Tonight starts off the 13 Nights of Halloween with the Goonies! Hope you’ll be watching!

So fall is officially upon us…though there are days where it doesn’t feel like it. The leaves are changing color, the days are getting shorter. Fall isn’t necessarily my favorite time of the year, but I like the change from really hot days to something more comfortable. It’s definitely the most colorful time of the year.

But anything I look forward to the most in the fall is Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year, with Christmas running in a close second. I love dressing up as someone/something I like. It’s really fun to be something else for a day (or in this case, night). I also enjoy going to Manglesen’s or Nobbies to check out all their creepy stuff. A new store opened up this year in Omaha, Spirit Halloween. It’s just down the street from Manglesen’s…84th and Center. I recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere new. They have a great selection of costumes, makeup, costume accessories and decorations. The staff there is great, too. They’re really friendly.

But I’m kinda disappointed that Halloween is on a Sunday this year; no staying out late. 😦 But I’m betting people are going to do their Halloween parties and such the day before. Can’t blame them!

This semester, several classes are participating in a campus event called Reiver Read. My Leadership & Development class is part of the Reiver Read and the book is The Lottery by Patricia Wood. For this book, each class reading it takes a different perspective than another class. In Leadership, we take a leadership perspective and define types of leaders with the characters in the novel. We have set discussion dates. We just had our first one yesterday and I really liked it. I love to give an opinion on something and hear others’ opinions. I like the book so far. It’s wonderfully written and I think the characters are great. I encourage anyone on campus to participate. Go pick up a copy of the book and check with a class to see when the discussion dates are and join us!

So I wake up on the first day of the semester (Aug. 23rd) and I’m already running around. I was up by 7:30 and showered and dressed close to 8:30. I have class at 9:00 and I really didn’t want to be late. I’m out the door by 8:40 and I jump into my car. I live relatively close, so the distance isn’t really an issue. I’m there by 8:50 and I’m trying to find a parking spot. It’s hard, granted a lot of the other students are either showing up early to claim parking spots or maybe heading to class. The first day is always crazy, no matter if you’re in high school or college. Well, the first thing I do after parking is whip out my schedule (feeling like a high school freshman) and head off to my first class. I get there a little late, but it’s the first day and everyone’s making sure they’re in the right room, especially if there are unannounced schedule changes.

I get through my first class okay and I decide that, seeing as I had time before my next class, I’d go check out the new student center. I’d viewed last year when they had begun building and over the summer when they’d finished; I hadn’t had the pleasure of being inside. I go in and look around. The first floor is the cafeteria and kitchen-kitchen where the Culinary students work. Cool. I go upstairs and-it’s really amazing. To the left is the bookstore (oh, sorry…College Store) and to the right is the Cyber Library (I described it to my friend as the “big, glass room” granted that it has a lot of windows) where there are tons of places to sit, lots of available computers and even study rooms.I eventually head off to my next class and I’m done by noon.

Hi, I’m Ashley. I’m in my second year at Iowa Western Community College. Welcome to my blog: Inside The Mind Of A Reiver. Here, I’ll give you an inside look at being a student at IWCC. I started out as a Psychology Major but switched to General Education. I chose Iowa Western because it’s conveniently located and is a smaller campus. It makes it easier for one-on-one time with the instructors and smaller classes. I love what Iowa Western has to offer; everything from the new football team (I’m not a member…haha) to the various clubs. I always recommend Iowa Western to my friends and people I know who are in their senior year. But, I’m going to conclude this brief intro and I’ll keep you updated throughout the semester! 🙂